Introduction

A single ESXi host allows you to run multiple virtual machines on a single server, but to tap the full potential of power from vSphere, you're going to need vCenter and clusters of ESXi hosts. This chapter will cover the basic concepts of creating and managing pools of resources using vCenter and multiple ESXi hosts.

vCenter is an increasingly critical part of the vSphere infrastructure since it handles the coordination of clustering and automation across multiple ESXi hosts. This drives the change and increases the complexity of vCenter deployments in each new version of vSphere. Even while the vCenter deployments are becoming more complex, VMware is working to try and ease that management by packaging the solution in simpler ways. vSphere 5.1 introduced the new Single Sign-On (SSO) service to the platform, and vSphere 5.5 streamlined deployment of the SSO's second version in vSphere. vSphere 5.5 also improved the virtual appliance version of vCenter, known as the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA). With version 6.0, the SSO service has grown into the Platform Services Controller (PSC). In addition to SSO, the PSC includes licensing, a certificate authority, and a centralized certificate store. The PSC can also replicate data between multiple instances of itself.

For the purpose of this chapter, you assume that vCenter is set up and it is in an operational state. If you do not already have vCenter running, deploying VCSA as a virtual appliance is, by far, the easiest way to get it running and functional for your environment.

For deploying VCSA for version 5.5, following the prompts in the Deploy OVF Template... menu option of the GUI is the easiest way to deploy vCenter. The deployment of vCenter is not within the scope of this book since it really requires the GUI to deploy. Even though PowerCLI can deploy virtual appliances, it misses answering the critical questions needed for the successful VCSA deployment.

If you are deploying VCSA for version 6.0 and you are using VMware Workstation, VMware Fusion, or even standalone ESXi to deploy your VCSA, using the VMware OVF Tool is a quick and automated method. OVF Tool allows you to define the passwords, IP addresses, and other information needed for VCSA to perform its configuration during the first boot. Without these parameters, the VCSA fails to configure on first boot and you receive an error. Blogger William Lam has a post and scripted installation using the OVF Tool at http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2015/02/ultimate-automation-guide-to-deploying-vcsa-6-0-part-1-embedded-node.html.